October Events
October 20th - School Carnival
Friday was a carnival fund raiser for the elementary school. There were lots of games for the kids like miniature golf, tire football toss, ring toss, balloon darts, penny toss, and duck shoot. Volunteers were doing face painting, and Danielle’s favorite things were the gigantic inflatable slide and bouncing cage. Both kids enjoyed the pony ride.
October 21st – Pumpkin Pickin’
After Aden’s soccer game and lunch, we took the kids to an area church that sells pumpkins as their annual fund raiser. We could have bought a pumpkin cheaper at Wal-Mart, but the church had all the pumpkins spread out on the front property on wooden plats. Since there aren’t any local pumpkin patches, this was the closet thing we could find. Danielle wanted the cutest, littlest pumpkin. I think she found exactly the right one.
Aden had a hard time deciding on the one he wanted. After a couple of times around the “pumpkin patch”, Scott found the best one. Aden wasn’t going for it so we had to try the sneak attack. While Aden’s back was turned we kept moving the pumpkin around Aden’s general vicinity until he finally choose the one Scott had picked out.
Party Games
As coordinator I was gearing up for our church’s Fall Festival the week of the 22nd. New games this year included Witch’s Ring Toss. I got the general idea from Better Homes and Garden’s website and made the rings by cutting the centers out of orange plastic plates.
Another idea I got from BH&G was Mummy Bowling. All week I was busy wrapping the toy bowling pins in gauze, painting “faces” and gluing button eyes (with a dab in the center from a correction fluid pen).
Pumpkin Parade
Last year we didn’t have many table decorations for the Fall Festival, so I decorated artificial pumpkins from foam pieces bought from a kit from Oriental Trading Company. I bought the pre-made mummy pumpkin from Michael’s and made Danielle a pumpkin fit for a princess.
Spooky Tree
Because I have been so “crafty” lately, Aden came home one afternoon and wanted to do a craft. Scott and I looked for inspiration from issues of Family Fun and Nick Jr. magazines. We found the perfect project for Aden – a spooky tree made from a paper bag (Family Fun – October 2006). At dinner, Scott and I cut out little foam pieces to make jack-o’-lanterns, monster heads, and bats for decorations for his festive tree
October 28th – Jack and Jill-O’-Lanterns
My mom and sister came to Aden’s last soccer game of the season. Aden’s team won 8 to 0. Danielly had a good time playing with a Pomeranian “soccer dog”. The owner had to hold tight to his leash because the dog would run out on the side fields and trip kids trying to get the ball.
Later we carved the pumpkins. We let the kids draw the pumpkin faces they wanted on paper. Scott then copied their designs.
Boo at the Zoo
That night, we went to Boo at the Zoo (at Riverbank's Zoo). The Zoo had candy stations set up along the paths through the Zoo (and lots of light-up decorations to light the way), as well as a hay bale maze, a monster mash dance floor, and a fog tunnel. We saw a creepy/crawly exhibit with a Madagascar hissing cockroach and a scorpion whose exterior glowed under a black light. I asked the handler what this ability did for the scorpion in the wild. “Nothing,” he replied, “except it looks cool under a black light.” Most of the animals were asleep, but the kids didn't mind so much with all the candy around.
October 29th – Fall Festival
The church’s Fall Festival for the toddlers and elementary schoolers was a smash. This is my second year as the festival coordinator. Thanks to our wonderful youth director, I had lots of help. He bribed the junior and senior youth that if they wanted to go on the youth trip to a haunted house, they had to volunteer for the festival.
The festival started off with a children’s sermon about All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints Day. The kids had fun playing all the games and getting candy at all the stations. Midway through the festival I had run out to Wal-Mart to buy more candy (in full costume!). The best part of the whole night was the toilet paper Mummy Wrap at the very end. No matter how messy it was this is something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives.
October 30th – All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth
Scott went to kindergarten to carve the class pumpkin. He asked if knives would be provided or if he should bring his own. Although they said they had a plastic carving kit that he could use, they allowed Scott to bring a real knife. Afterwards, Scott took Aden to the pediatrician because that morning Aden had been complaining how much his ear hurt. Yep, another ear infection. Aden’s front tooth had been dangling for days, but he didn’t want anyone to pull it. Reluctantly, he allowed our pediatrician to pull it as long as he promised to stop if it hurt. By the time Aden said it hurt, it was out. (We love our pediatrician.)
Aden slept all afternoon. When I came home from work, I had to frost four dozen cupcakes for the end of the season soccer party. Aden really was feeling so bad he stayed home with his Daddy. Danielly and I went to the party by ourselves to deliver the cupcakes without them. After getting the kids in bed, I stayed up to bake two dozen more cupcakes for Aden’s kindergarten class party and book a flight for my Mom to fly to see her dying brother.
October 31st – Trick-or-Treat
A year ago my mom turned 75, and my sister and I arranged for her surving brothers and sisters and close friends to help celebrate. All but one of her brothers was able to come. This year, I had to fly my mom home to see her youngest brother one last time before he dies. I went to work late and made sure Mom made it to the airport. One of my cousins picked her up in DC and drove her to Maryland. Not a very Happy Birthday for her.
Aden was feeling much better. I was afraid he was going to miss his class party and trick-or-treating. He was so exited about Halloween and all the parties; he forgot to look under his pillow for what the Tooth Fairy had left him.
Our pediatrician had invited us to his church’s Fall Festival for Halloween night so instead of going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, we went to yet another festival (having let the kids choose). I think the kids had a much better time going to the festival. One of the church members brought his farm tractor and a trailer and took everyone for hayrides around the parking lot. Our kids thought that was so cool. All Danielle wanted to do was jump on the inflatable bouncy cages and slide, while Aden played games and got candy and prizes. Aden stayed at the art station for a long time making a beautiful painting by using fall leaves and acorns rolled around in paint.
We had a hard time convincing our children it was time to go. Their responses were “Just one more game” or “Just one more slide”. We caved just a little because they were having such a good time, then we carried their tuckered little bodies to the van.
After the kids were in bed, I had a cool, refreshing beverage and curled up with my husband on the couch and watched Shawn of the Dead.
When I was a youngster…
We only went trick-or-treating once on Halloween night.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown came on Broadcast TV once. If you missed it, tough cookies.
Our glow sticks were called flashlights.
Store bought costumes were nothing more than a plastic mask with eye holes and a piece of elastic to go around your head. The elastic usually came loose while you were trick-or-treating and those teeny nose holes for you to breath through wasn’t enough. When you took off that stupid mask there was water vapor all on the inside. The rest of the costume was nothing more than a cheap plastic vest, but your mom paid good money for that costume that is probably a collector’s item now if in the original cardboard box with cellophane window.
Close neighbors still were able to give you candied apples, cookies, and popcorn balls before people got stupid and things got scary.
Yep, Halloween is much different than what I remember.
As you can tell, we have been very busy and the family’s schedule has been full, but we all had a wonderful time doing what all families should do more often – spend time together.
November 1st – Sleeping with the Fishes
Aden’s beta fish, whom Aden had named Aden, died last night. I noticed he had gone belly-up the night before while getting the kids ready for bed. We didn’t want to bum the kids out after having such a great time on Halloween, so we decided to wait until the morning to tell them. Aden got Aden the Fish for his fourth birthday. The little fishy lived a good life. (We even had one of Scott’s co-workers fish sit for us when we went on vacation.) Aden was very pragmatic about the situation. His main concern was “can we get another one?” But he did want to draw a picture of his fish so he could “always remember him”. (He did the same with his Batman shoes when he wore them out.) Danielle was much more upset that Aden was, especially over the flushing. She thought we should bring him back to life, or at least let him live with another family if he couldn’t live with us any more.
We will be getting a new beta soon.
Friday was a carnival fund raiser for the elementary school. There were lots of games for the kids like miniature golf, tire football toss, ring toss, balloon darts, penny toss, and duck shoot. Volunteers were doing face painting, and Danielle’s favorite things were the gigantic inflatable slide and bouncing cage. Both kids enjoyed the pony ride.
October 21st – Pumpkin Pickin’
After Aden’s soccer game and lunch, we took the kids to an area church that sells pumpkins as their annual fund raiser. We could have bought a pumpkin cheaper at Wal-Mart, but the church had all the pumpkins spread out on the front property on wooden plats. Since there aren’t any local pumpkin patches, this was the closet thing we could find. Danielle wanted the cutest, littlest pumpkin. I think she found exactly the right one.
Aden had a hard time deciding on the one he wanted. After a couple of times around the “pumpkin patch”, Scott found the best one. Aden wasn’t going for it so we had to try the sneak attack. While Aden’s back was turned we kept moving the pumpkin around Aden’s general vicinity until he finally choose the one Scott had picked out.
Party Games
As coordinator I was gearing up for our church’s Fall Festival the week of the 22nd. New games this year included Witch’s Ring Toss. I got the general idea from Better Homes and Garden’s website and made the rings by cutting the centers out of orange plastic plates.
Another idea I got from BH&G was Mummy Bowling. All week I was busy wrapping the toy bowling pins in gauze, painting “faces” and gluing button eyes (with a dab in the center from a correction fluid pen).
Pumpkin Parade
Last year we didn’t have many table decorations for the Fall Festival, so I decorated artificial pumpkins from foam pieces bought from a kit from Oriental Trading Company. I bought the pre-made mummy pumpkin from Michael’s and made Danielle a pumpkin fit for a princess.
Spooky Tree
Because I have been so “crafty” lately, Aden came home one afternoon and wanted to do a craft. Scott and I looked for inspiration from issues of Family Fun and Nick Jr. magazines. We found the perfect project for Aden – a spooky tree made from a paper bag (Family Fun – October 2006). At dinner, Scott and I cut out little foam pieces to make jack-o’-lanterns, monster heads, and bats for decorations for his festive tree
October 28th – Jack and Jill-O’-Lanterns
My mom and sister came to Aden’s last soccer game of the season. Aden’s team won 8 to 0. Danielly had a good time playing with a Pomeranian “soccer dog”. The owner had to hold tight to his leash because the dog would run out on the side fields and trip kids trying to get the ball.
Later we carved the pumpkins. We let the kids draw the pumpkin faces they wanted on paper. Scott then copied their designs.
Boo at the Zoo
That night, we went to Boo at the Zoo (at Riverbank's Zoo). The Zoo had candy stations set up along the paths through the Zoo (and lots of light-up decorations to light the way), as well as a hay bale maze, a monster mash dance floor, and a fog tunnel. We saw a creepy/crawly exhibit with a Madagascar hissing cockroach and a scorpion whose exterior glowed under a black light. I asked the handler what this ability did for the scorpion in the wild. “Nothing,” he replied, “except it looks cool under a black light.” Most of the animals were asleep, but the kids didn't mind so much with all the candy around.
October 29th – Fall Festival
The church’s Fall Festival for the toddlers and elementary schoolers was a smash. This is my second year as the festival coordinator. Thanks to our wonderful youth director, I had lots of help. He bribed the junior and senior youth that if they wanted to go on the youth trip to a haunted house, they had to volunteer for the festival.
The festival started off with a children’s sermon about All Hallow’s Eve and All Saints Day. The kids had fun playing all the games and getting candy at all the stations. Midway through the festival I had run out to Wal-Mart to buy more candy (in full costume!). The best part of the whole night was the toilet paper Mummy Wrap at the very end. No matter how messy it was this is something the kids will remember for the rest of their lives.
October 30th – All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth
Scott went to kindergarten to carve the class pumpkin. He asked if knives would be provided or if he should bring his own. Although they said they had a plastic carving kit that he could use, they allowed Scott to bring a real knife. Afterwards, Scott took Aden to the pediatrician because that morning Aden had been complaining how much his ear hurt. Yep, another ear infection. Aden’s front tooth had been dangling for days, but he didn’t want anyone to pull it. Reluctantly, he allowed our pediatrician to pull it as long as he promised to stop if it hurt. By the time Aden said it hurt, it was out. (We love our pediatrician.)
Aden slept all afternoon. When I came home from work, I had to frost four dozen cupcakes for the end of the season soccer party. Aden really was feeling so bad he stayed home with his Daddy. Danielly and I went to the party by ourselves to deliver the cupcakes without them. After getting the kids in bed, I stayed up to bake two dozen more cupcakes for Aden’s kindergarten class party and book a flight for my Mom to fly to see her dying brother.
October 31st – Trick-or-Treat
A year ago my mom turned 75, and my sister and I arranged for her surving brothers and sisters and close friends to help celebrate. All but one of her brothers was able to come. This year, I had to fly my mom home to see her youngest brother one last time before he dies. I went to work late and made sure Mom made it to the airport. One of my cousins picked her up in DC and drove her to Maryland. Not a very Happy Birthday for her.
Aden was feeling much better. I was afraid he was going to miss his class party and trick-or-treating. He was so exited about Halloween and all the parties; he forgot to look under his pillow for what the Tooth Fairy had left him.
Our pediatrician had invited us to his church’s Fall Festival for Halloween night so instead of going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, we went to yet another festival (having let the kids choose). I think the kids had a much better time going to the festival. One of the church members brought his farm tractor and a trailer and took everyone for hayrides around the parking lot. Our kids thought that was so cool. All Danielle wanted to do was jump on the inflatable bouncy cages and slide, while Aden played games and got candy and prizes. Aden stayed at the art station for a long time making a beautiful painting by using fall leaves and acorns rolled around in paint.
We had a hard time convincing our children it was time to go. Their responses were “Just one more game” or “Just one more slide”. We caved just a little because they were having such a good time, then we carried their tuckered little bodies to the van.
After the kids were in bed, I had a cool, refreshing beverage and curled up with my husband on the couch and watched Shawn of the Dead.
When I was a youngster…
We only went trick-or-treating once on Halloween night.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown came on Broadcast TV once. If you missed it, tough cookies.
Our glow sticks were called flashlights.
Store bought costumes were nothing more than a plastic mask with eye holes and a piece of elastic to go around your head. The elastic usually came loose while you were trick-or-treating and those teeny nose holes for you to breath through wasn’t enough. When you took off that stupid mask there was water vapor all on the inside. The rest of the costume was nothing more than a cheap plastic vest, but your mom paid good money for that costume that is probably a collector’s item now if in the original cardboard box with cellophane window.
Close neighbors still were able to give you candied apples, cookies, and popcorn balls before people got stupid and things got scary.
Yep, Halloween is much different than what I remember.
As you can tell, we have been very busy and the family’s schedule has been full, but we all had a wonderful time doing what all families should do more often – spend time together.
November 1st – Sleeping with the Fishes
Aden’s beta fish, whom Aden had named Aden, died last night. I noticed he had gone belly-up the night before while getting the kids ready for bed. We didn’t want to bum the kids out after having such a great time on Halloween, so we decided to wait until the morning to tell them. Aden got Aden the Fish for his fourth birthday. The little fishy lived a good life. (We even had one of Scott’s co-workers fish sit for us when we went on vacation.) Aden was very pragmatic about the situation. His main concern was “can we get another one?” But he did want to draw a picture of his fish so he could “always remember him”. (He did the same with his Batman shoes when he wore them out.) Danielle was much more upset that Aden was, especially over the flushing. She thought we should bring him back to life, or at least let him live with another family if he couldn’t live with us any more.
We will be getting a new beta soon.
posted by Jen at 12:09 PM
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